As the city of Youngstown is waiting for an insurance company to determine whether or not the Realty building needs to be torn down, the future of the residents who live there and in neighboring International Towers, hangs in the balance.

"They're stuck until there's either a safety net that is dropped from local government, state government or federal government, short term, while the long term legal ramifications get figured out," Joe Schiavoni, attorney and former state senator said.

The long road ahead could be even further delayed if this turns into a blame game.

"There's tons of defendants and plaintiffs in the case," Schiavoni said. "It's just got tp get all figured out about who's actually responsible. Then the defendants will go after one another to try to push the blame," he said.

Depending on the contracts each tenant signed, there could be some leeway to aid in their situation.

"There might also be something in the leases for the people in both towers," Schiavoni said. "So you'd have to look at the leases and say, is there something in the lease that says if this place becomes uninhabitable, is there money to come back through that lease," he said.

Schiavoni said action needs to happen immediately, as time is of the essence.

"We can't just have these slow two week plans, 'Oh we'll wait another two weeks,' no," Schiavoni said. "If this place can't...you can't go in it, then you've got to take it down somehow and if these people can't get back to their homes in the building next door, we gotta deal with that too, but it's got to be sooner rather than later," he said.